Article abstract
Nature Geoscience 1, 549 - 553 (2008)
Published online: 6 July 2008 | doi:10.1038/ngeo250
Subject Category: Structural geology, tectonics and geodynamics
Self-subduction of the Pangaean global plate
Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso1, Javier Fernández-Suárez2, Arlo B. Weil3, J. Brendan Murphy4, R. Damian Nance5, Fernando Corfú6 & Stephen T. Johnston7
Abstract
One of the most striking and rare occurrences in the Earth's history is the amalgamation of most of the continental lithosphere into one supercontinent. The most recent supercontinent, Pangaea, lasted from 320 to 200 million years ago. Here, we show that after the continental collisions that led to the formation of Pangaea, plate convergence continued in a large, wedge-shaped oceanic tract. We suggest that plate strain at the periphery of the supercontinent eventually resulted in self-subduction of the Pangaean global plate, when the ocean margin of the continent subducted beneath the continental edge at the other end of the same plate. Our scenario results in a stress regime within Pangaea that explains the development of a large fold structure near the apex of the Palaeotethys Ocean, extensive lower crustal heating and continental magmatism at the core of the continent as well as the development of radially arranged continental rifts in more peripheral regions of the plate.
- Departamento de Geología, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca 37008, Spain
- Departamento de Petrología y Geoquímica, Universidad Complutense, Madrid 28040, Spain
- Department of Geology, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvaniya 19010, USA
- Department of Earth Sciences, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5, Canada
- Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701, USA
- Institute of Geology, University of Oslo, Blindern, Postboks 1047, N-0316 Oslo, Norway
- School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, PO Box 3055 STN CSC, Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 3P6, Canada
Correspondence to: Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso1 e-mail: gabi@usal.es
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
RESEARCH
The Earth?s continents amalgamated into the supercontinent Pangaea 320 million years ago. After the supercontinent formed, structural deformation continued, which eventually resulted in the subduction of the ocean margin of Pangaea beneath the continental edge at the other end of the same plate. The Earth?s continents amalgamated into the supercontinent Pangaea 320 million years ago. After the supercontinent formed, structural deformation continued, which eventually resulted in the subduction of the ocean margin of Pangaea beneath the continental edge at the other end of the same plate.Nature Geoscience Article
Mid-Mesozoic closure of Permo?Triassic Tethys and its implicationsNature Article (14 Jun 1979)
Evidence against large-scale Carboniferous strike-slip faulting in the Appalachian?Caledonian orogenNature Letters to Editor (30 Aug 1984)
Supposed Permo-Triassic megashear between Laurasia and GondwanaNature Letters to Editor (10 Feb 1983)